Monday, April 8, 2013

Sisters and Brothers

Reminiscing about my Aunt Rita in a previous post led me to looking through old photos; she was an 'early adopter' and had a Polaroid SX70 soon after they were introduced in 1972. She was also early in driving a Toyota; in a time when buying a Japanese car was considered both daring and foolhardy. Aunt Rita was personal secretary to the president of the local television station; and wielded a refined yet iron-clad rule over the newsroom, administration and production staff alike. I remember one evening in my bartending days, the local news anchorman + friends; on a tear through the town, showed up in our joint near closing time and ended up sitting around with the staff at the end of the night having a post-shift beer. When it came out in conversation that the Miss Glennie who ruled the roost at the television station was my Aunt Rita; he blanched, sat upright, sobered up immediately and begged that I not tell her I saw him in my den of ill repute. Made me laugh. She was formidable; but also possessed a wonderful sense of humour; she would have had a good laugh if I had squealed on him, methinks.